Thursday, May 14, 2015

Book Mark Philanthropy

Y'all know how much I love books.  It's probably no surprise that our public library is one of my FAVORITE hangouts.  I usually visit once a week or so bringing home and returning all kinds of things.  Biographies are probably the most common visitors but I also enjoy cook books, sewing instructions, garden plans, fiction, oh my goodness, you name it! 

Sometimes, it is disappointing to find the borrowed book will have bent pages.  A patron must have turned down the corner and creased the page instead of using a book mark. 

Sad, but true. 


My tiny contribution toward solving the problem is leaving a book mark in the ones I return.  Here's a quick, easy way to make some!
 

Take a look at this pretty birthday card I received this year!  As much as I would love to keep every single one, there just isn't enough storage space in my old rock farmhouse, but I don't want to throw it away either.  What to do?  ;-)


I whip out this gadget.  'Not sure what it's called, but it makes nice straight cuts.


The pretty parts of the birthday card are cut into strips, making sure there is no writing on the back, of course!  ;-)



Somewhere in the middle of this project, the blade of my gadget got dull and tore one of the book marks.  Scissors were used to finish the rest of the cuts.


Here are the ones I was able to create with one card.  Aren't they pretty?

 
 One lovely birthday card becomes four beautiful book marks.  My tiny gift to our public library.

;-)  -Marci


13 comments:

  1. Nice idea, Marci. Maybe I'll do that with my birthday card.

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  2. What a great surprise for a reader. You are always full of such great ideas.

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  3. Upcycling greeting cards - what a fantastic idea for bookmarks! And a lovely random act of kindness as well.

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  4. Marci, this is one of the best things EVER. If I checked a book out, and found one of your beautiful little bookmarks, it would make my day. And I would definitely not crease a page! It reminds me of my favorite quote, "Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love." :)

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  5. What a great idea! I can't part with my old cards either and enjoy refashioning them into other items. And I love that you are a silent philanthropist to the library :)

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  6. That is a good idea! I like the thought of "donating" bookmarks in the books. I also like the idea of cutting bookmarks from a greeting card. I did this with a card we received last year for our anniversary that especially lended itself to that. It's a nice memento and also serves a useful purpose, so I'm not just saving a card in a pile somewhere. :-)

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  7. What a great idea, especially to donate them to the library! Thanks for sharing at Thursday Favorite Things!

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  8. A great way to use up those old cards that I've never gotten around to doing something with ;) Thank you for sharing at Merry Monday!

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  9. I love the idea of donating a book mark - what a sweet thought.

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  10. You are very nice to make these cute little bookmarks for people. So smart to reuse the cards! i'm always looking for ways to reuse them. Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty

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  11. This is a fabulous idea! Thanks for sharing this at Booknificent Thursday on Mommynificent.com this week!
    Tina

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  12. I do this too and I love when I find a bookmark in a book. My favorite I think was a grocery list I found tucked in a book. It gave me a little glimpse into the life of who read the book before me. Thanks for sharing at #WoW Words on Wednesday Linkup

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